[Marxism] India Bans Arab TV Channels Under Pressure From Israel

["Sayan Bhattacharyya" <ok.president+marxmail@xxxxxxxxx>]

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> India Bans Arab TV Channels Under Pressure From Israel
> Shahid Raza Burney, Arab News


>   http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=75907&d=6&m=8&y=2006

> BOMBAY, 6 August 2006 - In a country widely referred to as the world's
> largest democracy, the Indian government has succumbed to mounting Israeli
> pressure and ordered a nationwide ban on the broadcast of Arab television
> channels.
>
> The Indian government's ban on Arab television stations is in complete
> contrast to the friendship that Arab countries imagine exists with their
> neighbor across the Arabian Sea. It seems the ban is a move to ensure that
> Indians do not get to see the atrocities that are presently being committed
> by Israel in Lebanon and the occupied territories.
>
> Nabila Al-Bassam, a Saudi businesswoman on a trip to Bombay, told Arab News
> how she became exasperated at not being able to watch Arab channels at
> Bombay's leading five-star Oberoi Hotel. When she took up the issue with
> the
> hotel manager, she was told that Arab television channels had been banned
> across India.
>
> A perplexed Al-Bassam then sent an SMS to Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled
> Almaeena to verify whether this was indeed the case. "Oberoi Hotel tells me
> that the government of India has banned all Arab TV channels. Why? I hate
> watching CNN and BBC," she wrote to Almaeena.
>
> Talking to Arab News, Oberoi Hotel Manager Mohit Nirula did allude to the
> fact that a ban was in place. "The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
> has laid down certain rules. It is our duty to abide by and follow the
> rules
> of the country," he told this correspondent.
>
> Minister of Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi was busy in
> Parliament and was unavailable for comment on the issue. However, a
> ministry
> official explained why the Indian government decided to enforce the ban.
> The
> official highlighted that India enjoys close and cordial relations with
> Israel and the US more than any of the Arab governments.
>
> According to another source within the government, the ban is a clear sign
> to all governments in the Middle East that the Israeli, American and
> British
> governments carry far more influence in India than any of the Arab
> governments.
>
> Several senior Indian journalists explained that the ban was an indication
> that India had succumbed to Israeli pressure rather than American.
>
> "The whole exercise is to browbeat Arabs and show them as terrorists. The
> government is subscribing to the absurd argument that channels like
> Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya promote hatred and encourage terrorism," they
> said.
>
> Political analysts in India described the move as a game of double standard
> that India is playing. On the one hand India establishes friendship with
> the
> Arab world while simultaneously it joins with Israel and the US in defaming
> them. It seems that the pro-Israeli lobby wishes to drive a wedge between
> India and its time-tested Arab allies. The Indian government's present
> stance is in stark contrast to the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi's staunch
> support
> of the Palestinian cause.
>
> The banning of Arabic channels is a federal government decision, done under
> what senior Indian journalists claim to be intense pressure from the
> Israeli, American and British governments.
>
> The Indian government has been vocal in its condemnation of Israeli
> barbarity and has offered millions of rupees in aid to refugees in Lebanon.
> Arabs sympathetic to India have therefore met the news with surprise.
>
> Many Arabs draw inspiration from India's heroic struggle against British
> imperialism and the Indian independence struggle is seen by Palestinians as
> a brilliant example of throwing out the yoke of imperialism. It is sad that
> 50 years after independence the world's largest democracy unfairly
> suppresses alternative opinion and allows itself to be dictated to by
> foreign powers.

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